Ten... Freeview HD recorders

Timeshifting telly treats

Common Topics

Samsung BD-DT7800

The BD-T7800 looks sleek but falls down on crucial points. There’s 500GB of storage, very good picture quality and extensive multimedia playback from USB and a network using Ethernet or on-board Wi-Fi. HE-AAC 5.1 is supported (as multichannel DTS). Extras include a common interface slot for pay-TV, remote control from Android devices and Samsung’s Smart Hub suite of iPlayer, LoveFilm, social media apps and more.

However, no on-line features work while recording and, despite twin tuners, two channels can’t be recorded simultaneously. It has flashy animated menus but they’re as superfluous as putting £150 running shoes on someone with broken legs.

Technomate TM-7102 HD-T2 Super

The wild card in this collection is a pricey recorder endowed with a DVB-T2 tuner plus two HD-compatible satellite tuners, along with a pair of smartcard and CI slots for pay-TV (not BSkyB).

Compared to more consumer-orientated products, the Technomate is unashamedly technical. The remote control and on-screen display opt for complexity over aesthetics and there’s a formidable line-up of sockets. The instructions even show you how to custom fit a hard disk (it can be supplied without one).

The downside is an absence of Freeview+ extras such as logical channel ordering or programme guide keyword searching, while its multimedia format support is also sparse.